We were in Kansas City this weekend (Sunday) to do the Trolley Run with Steven’s dad, David, and his brother, Andrew.
The Trolley Run is a point-to-point 4-mile race that starts in Waldo (a neighborhood in Kansas City) and ends in the Plaza. AND… the race is mostly downhill. Now, this is an elevation map I can get behind!
This was my first point-to-point race. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous. Leave our car at the finish and take a bus to the start?! What if the bus lines were long? They weren’t. The race was incredibly well organized. We got right on a bus and got to the start with an hour to spare.
Have you ever done a point-to-point race?
The race was also incredibly organized, corral wise. There were six corrals, based on pace, and we were in the center corral. They started the corrals a few minutes apart to prevent crowding, and it worked well – I never felt like I was going to get knocked over, or like I was blocked in by people.
When we were waiting in our corral to start, one of Steven’s close high school friends randomly recognized us! He ended up running most of the race with us, so that was exciting. He’s a really cool guy.
On to the actual race. It was the perfect temperature for a race – low 50s, and a bit sunny. The four of us (and our friend, most of the time) stuck together for the race and kept an even 11:15ish pace (Garmin stats here) the entire time, except for when we stopped at the water station in the end of mile 2.
It was fun to run together, and it felt nice and easy (I think for all four of us – which is good – two people in our group didn’t start to train until two weeks prior to the race).
The post-race food was a bit crowded, but other than that, it was a perfect race. I was surprised by how laid-back, yet still organized, the race was. I felt like the race was more chill than Chicago races.
Our official finish time was 45:52, which was just under the average finishing time 46:02. I thought it was interesting that of the 8,418 finishers, 4,909 of them were female, and 3,509 were male. I wonder if it is common to have more females than males?
During the post-race, someone handed me a brochure for the 2011 Kansas City Zoo Run, another 4-miler. My brother-in-law, Andrew, was already encouraging me to run it, and when I saw what animal they were sponsoring this year, I knew I had to:
The Black-Footed Cat! Aww!!! It would be fun to do another 4-miler. This was my first one. Have you raced a 4-miler before?
I have not done a four-miler before, which means that my first one will be an automatic PR, hahaha.
You should definitely do the race for the black-footed cat!
I just did my first point-to-point race this weekend (the relay). It was pretty fun, but we had a vehicle to drive back to our other vehicle, so we didn’t have to wait for a bus at the end.
This was an automatic PR! But… I think I will do the race for the black-footed cat to see if I can improve my time 😉
Hmm, your comment makes me wonder if I should have someone drop me off in Madison for our relay so I don’t have to go back to the start. Gosh. There are a lot of logistics to figure out for relays, aren’t there?
The only 4-miler I did was a Turkey Trot. It’s a good distance for me because usually when I’m training or not, that’s my preferred distance to run mid-week!
I’ve never done a point-to-point race or a 4-miler. Sounds like a fun race- especially the downhill part. 😉
I like how you linked to your Garmin stats. I’ll have to look into that. I’m a dork about keeping track of my stats but I’m sure not everybody cares about the nitty gritty on my blog.
They probably care. I always like to see that stuff on people’s blogs!
That sounds like so much fun! I have never done a 4 miler. I’m glad you had such a fun race together. The black footed cat run would be something my daughter would love. Her birthday is coming up soon and the only thing she asked for was a cat puzzle.
Andrew looks really tall!
Ooo, a cat puzzle would be fun to pick out! Have you decide on which to get her yet?
You guys did great!!! You know you have to run the race for the Black-footed cat!!! How cute is that?!?!
=^..^=
I bet the shirt for the race is WAY cute!!! 🙂
love love love the running pictures! Good for you guys! So glad everyone had a nice race. I can do downhill! And you really, really need to do the zoo race!
Yay! It looks like a fun race! Congrats!
Is the zoo race through the actual zoo? I think that would be so much fun if it was!
I’m glad everyone had a good time and that the race was so organized.
And to answer your question about the male to female ratio, I’m pretty sure I’ve read that the balance has definitely shifted to more women than men running races.
It is through an actual zoo! Andrew did it two years ago and said it’s fun to run by all the animals 🙂
It’s interesting than more women are racing. Do you know why? Is it because our gender rocks? 😛
I’ve done point-to-point bike rides, but never a point-to-point run. Well, at least not an organized one; I’ve done some where I meet my wife (and vehicle) at one end or the other.
Great race! I love the elevation course! definitely my kind of race too! We have a zoo run here in the summer too and its awesome to run and see all the animals! They always look at the runners with a look like what the heck are those people doing?!
I LOVE the Trolley run!!! I loved seeing that elevation map! Awesome!!! 🙂 The Zoo run looks pretty cool! I’ve always wanted to do it, but the past few years something has always come up! I am really hoping it can do it this year for the black footed cat! 🙂
I’ve never done a point to point but I’ve done a 4 miler. Glad you have a fun run with your family!!!
So glad you had a relaxing fun race! I’ve never done 4 miles. The weirdest distance I’ve done for a race was 11 kilometers.
The Black-footed cat — that is such a creative choice for having a zoo race! I did a zoo race in Madison and it was tons of fun. Wear your cat ears!
Ha! That is a great idea! How did you know I have cat ears? 🙂
Love all the beards on your entourage! 😉
This was your first point-to-point race? I have done many. The 10k that I just finished for the 5th year in a row is p2p (you take the metro back to the start), the 15k I have done 3 times is p2p, my first 10k across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was p2p. I LOVE p2p races because you never have to run the same portion twice! Also, the 15k race that I’ve done has a similar elevation chart. It has a small hill in the last mile but the rest is downhill/flat.
I have never done a 4 miler. You should definitely do the zoo run! That sounds like so much fun!!!
I did like that I didn’t have to loop back or see the faster runners coming. Although, I guess that would work in a big loop race too!
I’ve never done a point to point race. In fact, my first will be at Grandma’s marathon. I’m a little nervous about that part…
This looks like so much fun!
Are you nervous about getting back to the start?
More just nervous about MORE logistical stuff at the beginning (they bus everyone to the start). I always worry about GETTING to races….
Yeah, it is common to have more girls that guys at most races anymore. The only exception is at the marathon distance. For some reason guys flock to those more than girls (bummer).
Very cool that you were able to run this race. I’m jealous!
Now that’s a beautiful looking elevation map!